Former Global Crossing Chief Becomes New T-Mobile CEO

John Legere, the former CEO of Global Crossing and a 32-year telecom veteran, will take the helm at T-Mobile USA effective Sept. 22.

The move was confirmed Wednesday by T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom. Legere replaces Jim Alling, who has served as interim CEO since June and will once again be T-Mobile's COO once Legere takes over.

"As T-Mobile moves forward with its strategic initiatives to improve its market position, including expanding its network coverage and initiating LTE service, John has obviously the right skill set to lead the business into the future," Rene Obermann, Deutsche Telekom CEO, said in a statement.

Legere was CEO of Global Crossing starting in 2001 and up through its acquisition by Level 3 Communications in 2011. His tenure there included Global Crossing's 2002 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and subsequent re-emergence in 2003. Earlier in his career, Legere spent 15 years at AT&T, and then in 1997 left for Dell, where he eventually was president of EMEA and Asia-Pacific operations. Before taking the top spot at Global Crossing, he was CEO of Asia Global Crossing, a joint venture of Global Crossing, Microsoft and Softbank.

Legere has his work cut out for him at T-Mobile, which lost nearly 1.7 million customers last year and earlier this year confirmed about 2,800 job cuts. T-Mobile is the No. 4 carrier in the U.S. with about 33.2 million subscribers. It's also a still-frequent subject of M&A talk following its planned and ultimately denied $39 billion acquisition by AT&T -- a move that would have vaulted AT&T ahead of Verizon as the U.S.' top mobile carrier.

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